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Joe Kerr
"Now THAT's comedy...hyuk hyuk" - Joe Kerr Background Joe Kerr is known as 'VILE's resident jester' and often dresses up as such. He is known for using souped-up versions of classic gags and jokes to aid in his thefts. Pre-"time skip": Before the timeskip, Joseph's background was an enigma. He had a form of amnesia preventing him from recalling events before his 21st birthday. This version of Joseph would begin to regain his memories over time, eventually remembering his tragic beginnings and the family that he lost. Post "time skip": Refer to ☀https://findcarmen.com/members/joe-kerr.18/#about Personality & Talents Joseph is known to have an optimistic view on life in general and is usually seen with a smile on his face. Despite his appearance and chosen shtick, Joseph is also known to be fairly cunning and quick witted when the need arises. Joseph has also been hinted to be among the more loyal of the master thieves in VILE. Joe shares many values in common with VILE's leader, Carmen Sandiego, including a general distaste for violence, bloodshed, and other heinous crimes. Pre-timeskip, Joseph was known to have a penchant for classic comedy and old gags. Joseph's penchant for classic comedy was highlighted by his use of the gag laugh 'Hyuck Hyuck' from old stand up comedy routines in the early 90s. Post timeskip, Joseph's penchant for the dramatic still remains but he doesn't lean too heavily on classic comedy gags. He is now more of a grifter and magician than a jester, although he sometimes still opts to use the jester's outfit. Both versions of Joseph are known to be somewhat of an accomplished chemist. He has manage to create special versions of sleeping gas, laughing gas, itching powder and stink gas which he uses to aid him in his escapades. Joseph's version of these gags and gases are more potent than the original yet fully hypoallergenic. From time to time, Joseph also whips up small batches of TNT which he uses in minute amounts power his gag bombs. Joseph's love for tinkering and making the delivery devices for his gag bombs suggests that he has a talent for simple engineering and mechanics. This is further highlighted when he is one of the few VILE agents that helps to run tests on a section of their new craft, The MAMBA. Joe sometimes dresses as a jester when he's out on heist. The outfit is completed either with a jester's hat (without bells) or a mask. Joe's jester mask has an inbuilt gas mask function so that he doesn't become a victim of his own creations. The outfit also serves to distract foes or get them to underestimate him. When not out on heists however, Joe prefers to blend in and dresses normally. With his short height and slim physique, this allows him to disappear into a crowd easily. He does however favor the color dark red in many of his outfit. Role in VILE On several occasions, Joseph has also been mentioned as referring to the underground grapevine, suggesting that he might have played a role in VILE's Intelligence department. Post time-skip, Joseph is shown being the first manager for VILE's new Las Vegas acquisition, The MirageTM Hotel & Casino. Joseph is shown to be adept at managing the hotel and helping establish it as another safehouse for VILE. Joseph later returns to Stone Harbor and resumes his previous role of helping to run the theatre and produce the plays. He was later revealed to be one of the few agents who had a hand in the development and testing of VILE's new craft, The MAMBA. In Ultramarine, Joseph had a meeting with Carmen in which he was given a private assignment from her - to help protect VILE by using his knowledge of gadgets to develop better defenses and tools. Appearances in TECS stories Nabbing a Joker This journal entry started with Joe in the process of stealing 'The Scream' from the Munch Museum in Norway. Using stink gas, Joe would cause an emergency evacuation during which he would walk out the front door with the aforementioned painting. Elsewhere across Europe, Vic the Slick was trying to persuade Carmen Sandiego to admit Joe into VILE due to his 'unique talents'. However Carmen was wary and seemingly turned Vic down. After circumventing customs, Joe brought the painting to Denmark and his safe house located near Tivoli Gardens. Inside the safehouse, Joe encountered a waiting Carmen Sandiego. They two would have a conversation which would serve as an impromptu interview of sorts for Joe. Through the conversation, Carmen would find out that she and Joe shared several similarities which put her at ease and she handed him his invitation Hiatus In Hiatus, Joe would pull a prank on Chase Devineaux in an attempt to give him the worst day ever. Dusting off VILE Bot, an old robot he found lying around VILE HQ, Joe would work with said robot to steal a Cayman Crocodile from the San Diego Zoo before switching it with Chase's Porsche Caymen in an unnamed parking garage in San Francisco. Joe would then drive the Caymen and use it to lead Ivy, Zack and Tanya on a chase that would end in Yellowstone Park. During the chase, Joe would briefly masquerade as an ACME agent to leave a smoke bomb prank for one of the chasing agents. The chase ended when Joe seemingly lost control and drove the car over the cliff, only to fall perfectly into the cargo hold of a modified plane piloted by VILE Bot. Paradigm Shift In Paradigm Shift, Joe would bring the stolen car to his old friend, Anne Gene, to remove the GPS Chip before taking it back to VILE. During his time with Anne in South Africa, Joe would receive news of the plane crash that would change everything. Upon removal of the GPS Chip, Joe would bring the car and VILE Bot back to VILE HQ Antarctica. There, Joe would spend his time trying to help keep the place running properly and cheering up the demoralized henchmen. It was during this period he would also run into Carmine (the cat) and Kidman (a VILE agent, not a cat). Joe would attempt to cheer the latter up, only to seemingly fail. It is implied that during his time at HQ, Joe also took to taking care of Carmine during the chaos. A funny thing happened to me on my way home... (See Anne Gene) Auld Lang Syne At the start of Auld Lang Syne, Joe briefly recalled the events of the past year and how he worked with Patty Larceny to run Antarctica HQ during Carmen and Vic's absence. When it was clear ACME was about to launch an assault on the Antarctica HQ, Joe worked with Patty and Kidman to help evacuate the base and implement a last ditch decoy to save what remained of the other VILE bases. It is mentioned that Carmine follows Joe during the evacuation and becomes his 'sidekick' in lieu of VILE Bot who was seemingly deactivated and stored with the rest of the equipment during the evacuation. Flash forwarding to present day, Joe is shown attending a secret VILE meeting at an abandoned theatre of undisclosed location. The meeting is also attended by Vic the Slick, Kidman, Sarah Nade and Contessa (in a way). During the meeting Joe suggests the idea of reopening the theatre so as to hide the activity that will follow should Vic follow through with his own idea of making the theatre the new ops base for VILE. The idea is seemingly endorsed in part by Vic and Contessa. Vic then receives a phone call from one of VILE's lawyers who wants to declare Carmen dead since she has been missing for a year. Vic bargains for a little over 2 weeks to try and find proof of the contrary. Joe then brings up the idea of using the Cayman (still in his possession) to lure out Chase Devineaux for a meeting. Joe's full intentions are unknown though it is implied that he feels Chase might be their best shot at finding proof of Carmen being alive. The idea is met with several objections but Joe brushes them off with his own ultimatum before leaving with Carmine and Kidman in tow. Joe sends Chase, via Chase's secretary, a clue that pointed towards the Stern Auditorium of Carnegie Hall, on the 14th of December at 1412 hours as the meeting location for an exchange for the Caymen. Kidman, Joe, Chase and Ivy end up meeting at Carnegie Hall in a tense but eventful encounter that results in Chase leaving with Kidman and his Caymen, and Joe leaving with a flash drive and a message for Vic. The flash drive would prove to be vital in helping stall the lawyers from declaring Carmen dead. With the mesage delivered to Vic, Joe took time to rest in the theatre whilst Vic arranged a meeting with Chase to hand over the things Carmen stole from the ACME Tower. During dinner time at the theatre, Joe and the others learnt of the Nob Hill incident and have varying reactions to the news. Contessa then storms in and cites the recent events at Nob Hill as incentive to employ armed guards and other measures to protect VILE. Both Roux and Joe shoot down the idea but Joe is shown to be receptive to the idea of upgrading VILE's arsenal to combat more ruthless foes. Later on, Joe joins Vic and others in Hawaii. It is in Hawaii that Vic would meet with Barbara Rosen and handover the goods that Carmen stole in exchange for help and more information. The events in Hawaii would end with VILE gathered around a table at a pizza joint and being briefed on the upcoming raid in Seraphim. It is also interesting to note that during the events of Auld Lang Syne, Joe Kerr is shown to regain some memories of his sister, Evelyn, suggesting that maybe his memory isn't completely lost. Seraphim Joseph is part of the small crew of VILE that joins ACME in the raid on Torun Zamok. The VILE contingent runs into Carmen quite quickly and receives new marching orders from her - sneak into the fortress and help rescue an old captain who helped her. During their attempt to do so, Joseph sacrifices himself to act as a distraction so that the others might accomplish the mission. He ends up getting shot in his arm but otherwise survives the incident intact. He was rescued by ACME forces. The events of Seraphim are shown, in later RPs, to have made Joseph start to question his non-violent stance. Cadence During Cadence, Joseph helps VILE recover from the events of Seraphim. He then works with Flag and a new recruit, Jack, to restart the 'game' with ACME. Joseph leads the string of thefts which have an ulterior motive of Flag sending a message to Devineaux. One of the heists goes wrong and Joseph gets apprehended by ACME. It is revealed that Joseph foresaw this and left instructions for Flag and Jack to carry on. Joseph then demands a meeting with Chase Devineaux where he reveals that he doesn't fully trust Flag. Joseph gives Chase all the clues that Flag wanted him to have, letting Devineaux decipher Flag's message. Joseph also warns Chase that Flag is 'not like the rest of them', implying that he can't be trusted to keep the non-lethal stance the rest of them do. The events of the subsequent meeting of Chase and Flag lead to a time skip and an alternate timeline forming. Dungeons & Dragons Post time skip, Joseph runs into Neb when she comes into their Vegas safe house while he was managing it. He ends up agreeing to help her with a heist of old books although he doesn't quite understand her motivation. Seeing Neb also briefly triggers memories of the old timeline for Joseph though he dismisses them as a product of imagination. He pilots the craft which brings them to the location of the heist and plays a key role in helping disarm some of the traps that await them. The heist goes sideways when their intrusion is detected. Bran, the owner of the books, sends his men after them and then later goes after them himself. Joseph attempts to reason with Bran when the trio of thieves gets pinned down by him. This attempt is not met well by Bran or by Flag and Neb. Neb takes an arrow for Joseph who manages to remotely summon their stealth craft to come to their rescue. Ultramarine (currently still in progress) Joseph had a meeting with Carmen in Stone Harbor. During which, he confesses his growing disenchantment with their non-violent stance. The talk with Carmen helps him re-affirm his commitment to the stance and he walks away with a new personal task from Carmen herself - to use his gadgetry skills to upgrade VILE's arsenal. Joseph then joins the crew in a 'company party' in Harbin. The party goes sideways when Joseph spots Patty Larceny, who had previously gone missing, among the crowd. He chases after her, only to fall into her trap and get kidnapped by her. During this incident, Patty, seeing Joseph's fondness for her, kisses him as a distraction him and steal his mask and knockout gas. Joseph wakes up in a modified enclosure in an abandoned zoo. When Patty comes to visit him, they argue about her choice to help Maelstrom and Joseph gets confused about the feelings their kiss had brought up. Later, Joseph is reunited with his fellow prisoners Chase Devineaux and Acton Roux. Chase and Joseph stage an escape attempt while they are enroute to Maelstrom's office, only to get thwarted by his goons. Just as Maelstrom seems to want to call the disguised Devineaux's bluff, Carmen intervenes with a phonecall that sets up a meeting at an undersea temple. Joseph, Chase and Acton get tossed in an old submarine and dragged along to the undersea meeting. Maelstrom cuts their submarine adrift at one point, leaving them to sink to their deaths. The trio manage to get the submarine somewhat working enough to let the craft maneuver into a safer crash landing at the temple. Upon waking up from the crash, Joseph finds himself with some minor injuries and begins to look to salvage the contents of the sub. He finds an old toolbox from which each occupant of the sub take a few items; Joseph himself chooses an old crowbar among other things. The trio realize they can breathe in the underwater temple due to the bubble-like enclosure it is in. They slowly make their way to the largest building in the mystical temple/city, running into a coalition of ACME and VILE agents along the way. As the coalition makes its way to the main temple together, various members are each confronted with hallucinations; Joseph's is mercenary skeletons - possibly playing off the trauma from their escapades in Seraphim. At the temple entrance, they groups encounters Patty Larceny who gets pursued with lethal intent from a hallucinating Chase Devineaux. Patty used Joseph's gag bombs to try and get away but it isn't enough. Joseph runs after the duo, chasing them onto a temple rooftop where he manages to stop Devineaux from killing Patty by throwing his crowbar at him. Whilst Chase catches the crowbar, Joseph manages to run over and grab Patty in time before she falls over the roof edge. This also buys time for Ivy to catch up and snap Chase out of his hallucinations. Patty joins the coalition as they enter into the temple where they each are tossed into their own world of hallucinations. In Joseph's world, he is in the 1930s and VILE has become an old Mobster style crime family. He originally finds himself in an interrogation room where he gets questioned by Chase and his protege, Lee Jordan. Later, the family's mansion compound, which doubles as an orphanage, gets attacked and set on fire by Maelstrom. Joseph runs in and manages to save a young Zack and Ivy, despite suffering some injuries from the fire. He helps them escape the mansion via a secret exit and into a safehouse in the woods behind the mansion. Chase Devineaux finds the unconscious Joseph and brings him to a hospital. Joseph grieves for his fallen friends while in hospital and reveals to Devineaux, off the records, the true workings of the family. Devineaux reveals that Patty Larceny was the one that let Maelstrom into the compound. In the last part of his hallucination, Joseph finds himself waking up to Patty after he and Chase responded to an obvious trap from Maelstrom. Patty is revealed to be Joseph's lover in this hallucination and she reveals to him that she was pregnant with his child. She was blackmailed by Maelstrom into helping him in exchange for leaving Joseph and their child alive. In the ensuing confrontation with Maelstrom, Joseph ends up outwitting his foe by having earlier figured out Maelstrom's shadow partner and turning her against him. He ends up shooting out Maelstrom's kneecaps and leaves him to decide whether he wishes to go to jail or get left to the mercy of an angry Irish Mob. The hallucination breaks when an oddly attired Chase Devineaux walks in. Joseph follows him and finds himself in a black desert with reddish skies. Relationships Anne Gene In the journal entry "A Funny thing happened to me on my way home...", Joe's history with Anne Gene is chronicled. Joseph's first meeting with Anne Gene was in New York a few years back when he got lost after a heist. He ended up stumbling on Anne being threatened by thugs and saved her. This started a long standing friendship between the two. Joe has been implied as having a hand in helping Anne solve her old rent problems (she had resorted to reluctantly doing some car service work for unsavoury characters) aiding her efforts to leave the red hood section of Brooklyn for greener pastures. In Paradigm shift, Joe would search out Anne's help in removing the GPS chip from the Porsche Caymen he stole from Chase. The meeting would happen in South Africa where Anne had moved to and opened up her new shop. During their conversation, Anne implies that the stolen Caymen is not the first 'hot car' that Joe has asked her to work on. Anne is originally displeased with the jester but eventually shows herself as a warm, understanding friend after Joe receives news of Vic's plane crash. Anne is characterized as a southern belle of sorts and her southern charm both melds and clashes delightfully with Joe's crazy personality. The two are implied as being close friends who occasionally argue about Joe's criminal lifestyle (Anne doesn't mind it as long as he doesn't drag her into it).Joe does seem to genuinely care for Anne as a friend and has promised to not involve her in anything remotely criminal any more. Kidman/Neb Joe would first encounter the melancholy girl at Antarctica VILE HQ where she was transported to during the chaos of the events of Paradigm Shift. Joe would attempt to cheer Kidman up but fail miserably. Their conversation however seemed to spark a fondness for the kid in Joe and vice-versa. Later in Auld Lang Syne, Kidman would follow Joe and go with him in an attempt to meet Chase Devineaux. The meeting ends with Joe reluctantly letting Kidman go with Chase as part of the deal. During their time together, the banter between the two is friendly and usually reminiscent of an uncle and a niece or big brother and little sister. This may be because Joe seems to view Kidman as a niece figure of sorts and has a soft spot for her. Post time skip, Neb's new more independent and aggressive attitude sometimes clashes with Joseph's as she has started to see his non-lethal stance as outdated. This is really highlighted during the events of Dungeons and Dragons. Carmine It is not explicitly mentioned how Carmine came to be in Joe's care during his time at Antarctica HQ but sufficient to say she stuck with him since then. The usually temperamental cat is friendly with Joe and seems to share a link with him. She seems to have a knack for performing actions that compliment Joe's own actions with perfect timing. Joe has noted as much and seems to enjoy it. Carmine also seems to share an agreement with Joe when it comes to characters that he trusts or likes. Carmine is often seen going everywhere with Joseph and acting more like a partner in comedy (and crime, of course) than a mere pet. However, in Seraphim, Joseph elects not to bring her along for her own safety. Joseph does however bring her along for the events of Dungeons & Dragons (although she ends up staying in the craft). Carmine is also absent during the events of Ultramarine as Joseph never brought her along to Harbin. Carmen Sandiego Joe has been mentioned as having a genial relationship with his boss. The two seem to share several traits and points of view in common. It is later revealed that both grew up as orphans, which could be a part of the reason Joseph sees her as a kindred spirit and as a sister figure. He is ruthlessly loyal to her and her code of conduct and doesn't question her decisions or authority. Joe seems to have an understanding of Carmen's methods behind the madness as it were and views her more humanely than his other peers might In Auld Lang Syne, Joe is also seen to view Carmen as a key figure in 'the great game' and fears that her death (or even the announcement of it) would have unmentionable consequences for both VILE and ACME. The Rest of VILE Joe is recorded as having worked with Patty Larceny to run VILE HQ Antarctica during the year long break between the events of Paradigm Shift and Auld Lang Syne. He is highly complimentary of VILE's golden girl and appreciates her sharp wit and tongue more than most. The events of Ultramarine seem to suggest that he has a crush on her though it is yet to be seen whether she returns the feelings or if their relationship will grow beyond what it currently is. Joe seems to have a mild friendship with Vic of sorts and has even gone as far as giving Vic a special Christmas present in case Vic should ever be caught by ACME again. It is not mentioned what the contents of the present are but it is indicated that Vic is pleased. Joseph also seems to have a respectful friendship with Dr Acton Roux, who also shares his non-lethal stance. He is one of the few people in VILE that will regularly interact with Acton and is not afraid of the doctor's mask and reputation. Joe is seen to be on neutral footing with the rest of VILE whom he regards as members of his dysfunctional family of sorts. While he will not betray them, he doesn't always agree with them, as seen in the events of Auld Lang Syne. Category:Characters Category:V.I.L.E.